


Traffic Jam

by alafaye



Series: Travels [7]
Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-03 08:19:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alafaye/pseuds/alafaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It shouldn't be possible, but the Tardis gets stuck in traffic. In the Vortex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traffic Jam

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2013 advent challenge; master list and prompts can be found [here](http://alafaye.livejournal.com/350228.html). This is day 2, traveling/traffic jam.

Ianto cupped his hands and blew into them, stamping his feet on the ground. Or, rather, into the snow-covered ground. There was a foot already and more falling steadily. 

"I don't understand it," the Doctor was saying as he walked around the Tardis. "It's not possible."

Ianto shrugged. "So there's a traffic jam. What of it?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Did I just hear you, Ianto Jones, master of the Tardis, say that a traffic jam just happens?"

"What?" Ianto asked, defensive. What had he said?

"The Tardis does not get stuck in traffic jams," the Doctor said, emphasizing his point by poking Ianto in the chest with his finger.

Ianto blinked and looked at the blue box. She looked a little weary, but maybe that was just Ianto's imagination. Or she was projecting. They had been hopping around a lot, lately. Coming and going within a day. Ianto was tired himself; there was such a thing as too much adventure, he thought.

"Ianto!" the Doctor cried.

Ianto raised flushed. "Sorry."

The Doctor glared at him and then the Tardis. "I've told you both before--no flirting while I'm around!"

Ianto chuckled. "Can't help it. It's the Welsh vowels."

"Oh, I'll give you Welsh vowels--you'll get plenty of them when I drop you off in Wales in the fourteenth century!" the Doctor told him, moving around the Tardis again. "She's my Tardis."

"Yes, I know," Ianto agreed with a smile. "But she can have friends, can't she?"

The Doctor paused, but only for a moment. "I suppose so. And anyway, that isn't the point! The point is that there is no way there is a traffic jam--the vortex isn't the M5! It doesn't jam up."

Ianto looked around the port where the Tardis had landed; a number of tourists were waiting in line to go home. The port itself was on a planet that lay within the Vortex--technology that not even the Doctor properly understood. It was popular for tourists and honeymooners and kids on their gap year. (Ianto wondered if there would ever be a time when gap years didn't happen. So far, there wasn't.) They had excellent ice cream and the anti-grav paint ball had been thrilling. It was a nice kind of day and nothing bad had happened. 

But now the Doctor had another destination in mind and wanted to go. Only...there was a traffic jam. Ianto thought it made sense--despite the tangled mess that time was when you were a time traveller and the planet being in the Vortex, many of the tourists were leaving for the season to spend some time with families during the holidays. If it clogged up the M5, Ianto couldn't understand why it wouldn't also clog up the Vortex.

"Ianto," the Doctor said quietly, but firmly.

Ianto took a deep breath and looked over. The Doctor's lips thinned as he pressed them together and he looked at the Tardis. "Maybe...maybe there is a traffic jam."

Ianto got a wave of _something_ that he knew was from the Tardis--it felt like relief and gratefulness, but Ianto couldn't be sure. Only that it felt similar to his own weariness and mental exhaustion that came from traveling with the Doctor when he time-hopped too much in too short a time. 

"With all these people leaving, there should be a room free for a day," the Doctor said slowly. He winced and glared harder at his beloved machine. "Or five."

Ianto chuckled and held out his hand. "I think that sounds perfect."

The Doctor frowned as he took Ianto's hand and stepped closer. "I should've realized--Ianto, why didn't you say?"

"Hmm?"

The Doctor kissed Ianto's temple. "This isn't good for you. As much as you're used to the traveling, this has worn you down, hasn't it?"

Ianto half smiled. "I knew you'd wind down sooner or later. It's fine. I'm fine."

"Will be fine, you mean," the Doctor corrected. "I'm sorry. Come on, a lovely suite in a five star hotel with the best room service and plenty of people to wait on us."

"We'll go crazy in a day," Ianto pointed out.

The Doctor wrinkled his nose. "Maybe."

Ianto fully smiled and squeezed the Doctor's hand. "Come on. A hotel waits for us. One bed?" He asked this hesitatingly--one never knew where the Doctor's boundaries were year-to-year. Ianto would take and offer what he could, no matter what the Doctor needed. If they kept their distance this trip, they would. But Ianto liked a nice cuddle and a cuddle would be perfect right now.

The Doctor blushed but nodded. "One bed, yes."

"Excellent," Ianto murmured. A day or two off with one bed and the Doctor; something was going to go wrong, but they would at least get a bit of down time. It sounded perfect. When the Doctor stayed close, Ianto suspected that the Doctor agreed.


End file.
